Mad World
by widowspeak14
Summary: Alex was stationed at the Sanctuary before the war with Negan and Rick Grimes. Now she and her fellow Saviours are bound to working with the other communities around them after the downfall. She slowly begins to pick up the pieces around her and adapt to a new life that she was handed with a little help from the archer himself who she saw at the Sanctuary not too long ago. Daryl/OC
1. Strange Encounter

**This is my first ever Walking Dead story. The plot came to my head after watching last nights episode. This story starts out in Season 9, Episode 3. Hope you guys enjoy the first chapter :) R &R**

* * *

Alex folded her arms over her chest as she watched the group of Saviours push forward towards the group of people from the Kingdom and Alexandria who had welcomed them after the downfall of the Sanctuary. It was utter chaos after the death of one of the saviours the previous night and slowly they have been slaughtered one by one since then. Her people were getting antsy and mad, having no weapons and protection against whoever was out to get them.

She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides then brought her hand up to run her slender fingers through her dark hair. Alex didn't want to be apart of this. THIS being the commotion and the hate throughout the camp. It had been going on for days since the archer named Daryl and one of her people had got into it back on the bridge they had been assigned to work on. That was their task to survive. Now, they were out in the woods, surrounded by a city of tents and courtyards where they could sit by the fire.

Alex ignored the interaction between the groups, turning and walking off before Rick Grimes arrived mounted on his horse, gun drawn and split the two groups apart. She wandered out into the trees not too far away and sat down on a log, pulling her pocket knife from her pocket and started to engrave the tip into the wood. The shouting and screaming slowly disappearing from the distance as the groups became settled and spread out amongst the camp and Alex found herself diving deep into her mind, searching for her own inner peace.

She had been apart of the Sanctuary before the war with Negan and Rick Grimes started. Her place was among the workers in the factory gathering points each day to make it with the rest of them. She couldn't actually recall seeing Negan (maybe once or twice but who can really get over a personality like his), but since he's been gone, locked away in Rick's cell, some people still want him. Some people don't.

Rick Grimes, however, was always a constant conversation starter back at the factory. People wanted to kill him and now they're working for him. Some of the saviours still do for him taking what was there's.

Alex didn't know how to feel about their new leader. Well, first it was the archer Daryl now it was passed down to a woman with salt and pepper short hair, an older woman that went by the name of Carol. But Rick was the one in charge of everything.

Alex had to be adaptable to anything since the fallout and even before when she was in her late teens and early adult years. She learned not to spend to much time in one place for too long especially in the apocalypse. She hadn't been at the Sanctuary that long before the war had happened. It must of been a few months before she stumbled into Simon and his troops out in the woods after being out there for months when her other camp got invaded by walkers and people wearing walker skin. Simon had found her in rough shape, brought her back to the Sanctuary and had her put on light duty before she could start working for points. She didn't hate it, but she didn't love it either but it was a place to call home for a while and she met some of the Saviours. Some good and some bad. Some of them made it through the war, some didn't.

Alex stopped dragging the tip of the knife along the wood log beneath her and relished in her work with a small smile. The engraved 'A' stood out amongst the pine as her dirty nails ran over it softly and she was faintly reminded of what it was like before everything went to shit. The peace and quietness of nature without the dead crawling and snarling around the woods. People could actually walk, talk and sit and just breathe in the fresh smell of the trees around them and meditate in their surroundings.

"Aye," Came a voice from a couple of feet in front of her through the trees. Alex's head whipped upwards in the direction of the voice, her face dropping in shock that she had been caught in her own thoughts and away from the group. "You gonna lower that?"

She turned her head to see that she had raised her arm up in the air yielding the pocket knife in her hand towards the patch of trees where the voice came from. The branches snapped under his feet as Daryl stepped out from the gathering of trees and looked over at Alex under the lock of hair that was in his face.

She only knew him as the archer and hadn't ever talked to him.

"You plannin' on doin' some damage?" He asked, nodding to the knife that was still in her hand. Alex blinked and slowly lowered her hand, a bit embarrassed by the act and chewed on her lower lip. Daryl's eyes squinted and studied her closely before taking a step forward. The bow slung on his shoulders slipped down to the ground next to his feet where he lowered himself down to sit on another log across from Alex.

"I just came out here-to get away from all the commotion," Alex muttered as she put the pocket knife back safely into her pocket where it had been before. Daryl didn't respond in a usual Daryl fashion which caused Alex to fumble with her fingers until she folded them calmly into her lap, "What are you doing out here?"

Daryl pulled his gaze from her and looked down to the ground for a moment. He patted is leather vest until he found what he was looking for and pulled out the carton of smokes he had found on a run and a light, "To get away from all the bullshit."

He plucked a smoke from the package and put it between his lips. Alex's eyes lit up for a brief moment as she watched him light up the cigarette and take in the small amounts of nicotine in a couple of long puffs.

"Can I-bum one off ya?" She asked hesitantly, lifting her hand up to push some of the hair from her face to behind her ear. "Maybe it'd ease my nerves a bit."

"Why ya nervous?" Daryl asked suddenly, holding back the pack to his chest and looked at her. Alex made eye contact with him and gave him a slight smile. He eyed her wearily before reaching over and handing her the pack which she took and place a cigarette between her lips. Daryl leaned over and gracefully lit up her cigarette with ease.

Alex leaned her head back after taking a drag, eyes closed and slowly let the smoke from her lips as a sense of relaxation and calmness swept throughout her body. The tip of her tongue brushed along her lips briefly and she lowered her gaze back to meet Daryl's who was still fixated on her.

"I haven't been able to relax since we got here. Since I got to the Sanctuary," She confessed and looked down briefly, "I don't know how I feel now with this new order going on. I just don't like commotion very much, my nerves get rattled easily."

Daryl grunted lowly and took another long drag from his cigarette, turning his attention to the trees around them. He was so use to spot for walkers while out away from the others and his attention always went back to that.

"What do you think about this place?" Alex asked Daryl when he didn't respond. She flicked the ashes of her cigarette to the ground and brought it back up to her lips. He was quiet and Alex couldn't help but wonder what he was really thinking about. That gave her time to quickly swoop her dark eyes over him slowly, from his shoes up to his vest and the long curls that hung on his shoulders and hair that covered half of his face. She remembered him when he had been a prisoner of Negan's for quite some time at the Sanctuary.

"I don't even know why we're even helpin' y'all," Daryl muttered under his breath, keeping his attention turned away as he quietly puffed on his cigarette. Alex froze in her spot and slowly tilted her head to the side a bit, her brows furrowing slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Alex asked, crossing her arms over her lap and leaning slightly towards Daryl, "We're all not Negan, you know? Some of us do want to survive out here. Some of us did what we had to do to survive, that's why I'm here." She glared slightly, "I'm sure you had to do some shit in order to do the same. I'm not Negan and this is my home now, same with the other people who want to start anew with whatever is going on here…."

Daryl pulled his gaze from the trees and looked at her, eyebrow cocked with a slight annoyed expression on his face.

"Give us a chance," Alex said.

Daryl took the last drag of his smoke and flicked it to the ground before grabbing his bow as he got up from the log. He slung the bow over his shoulder as Alex lifted her gaze to meet his, "I'll give you a chance-I ain't givin' some of those son of a bitches a chance."

Alex nodded slightly as she watched him turn his back to her and walk from the clearing back into the patch of trees from where he came from in the direction of the camp. "My names Alex by the way," She yelled out, hoping he could hear her but didn't hear a response. She sighed and flicked the cigarette away to the ground after noticing that it had burned the rest of the way to the filter between her fingers.


	2. Caught

_She was running through the woods as fast as she could. Every branch and tree that stood in her way didn't stand a chance as she pushed herself further away from the camp that was just over run with walkers. They had broken through the clearing and breached the outer rim of the campsite of four to five adults including herself and began to feast on everyone that they could get their slimy hands on._

 _Alex had heard the snarls at first and grabbed for her gun that was fastened to her belt at her side. Everyone in the campsite was on high alert but nobody expected the heard to be as big as it was. She shot four to five rounds and that didn't help then used her hunting knife to slash the rest. By then, there was only her and one other left. A man named Jeff._

 _He was covered in blood and walker guts, the same as her. His black hair was only but a shade of dark red that covered the rest of his pale body under the moonlight. "Go! Now!" He shouted before taking another walker down with his knife. The walker snarled one last time before dropping to the ground at Jeff's feet. Alex turned her head to the trees and noticed more and more walkers climbing out from them and walking towards the two. Her heart skipped a beat._

 _"Come with me!" Alex shouted, taking a couple of steps back from the on coming heard and avoiding on tripping on the campfire they had set up before they had been attacked._

 _"I'll be right behind you. Just get yourself out of here, find some help!" Jeff shouted and took another walker down with a swift swing on his hand. Alex's chest tightened slightly and she breathed in the little air she thought she could handle. She could only do what she thought was the only thing she could do and that was to run._

 _The image of Jeff's face flashed through her head as she kept running. Her legs ached and lungs prayed that she'd stop for a breath of air but she couldn't. All the while she kept running and looking back over her shoulder constantly until she came to a sudden halt, smashing into something hard and instantly bounced back and onto the ground._

 _Alex groaned slightly and inhaled a deep breath, her hazel eyes opening a crack to stare up at the clearing of trees above her into the dark sky above. Her ear twitched when she heard a couple of branches snap around her and her head instantly snapped up to attention._

 _"Well, well. What've we have here?" Came a soft rough voice from above her. Alex wiped the walker blood from her face to get a better look at the man who was standing in front of her surrounded by six or seven other people; mostly men and one woman with short blonde hair with tan skin. The man who greeted Alex stood firmly in his place, hands on his hips with a cheshire smile spread across his lips._

 _"Where you runnin' off too?" He asked Alex but she didn't reply. The man tilted his head to the side slightly, waiting for her to respond but Alex hesitated to say anything. The man popped his brows up slightly and brushed his fingers along his moustache. "Not gonna talk, huh? Sorry for not introducing myself first-"_

 _The man said before stepping and kneeling down in front of Alex with a broad grin across his face, "I'm Simon_."

Alex was pulled from her thoughts as a boy, not older that 13 came up to her offering her a drink. The saviours had been sent back to the bridge to work for the rest of the day while a couple of others headed out to look for more clues surrounding some of the Saviours deaths.

"Thanks, Henry." Alex smiled and put her hammer down on the beam she had been working on along with another Saviour who went by the name of Kenny. She dusted her hands on her rough jeans before reaching over to take the styrofoam cup in her hands and took a long sip. She tilted her head back to make sure she got every last drop that was in the cup considering it was extra hot that day and it didn't help that the sun was beating down on their backs without a single cloud in sight.

"How's your day going" Henry asked Alex as she finished and handed the cup back to the boy. Alex smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders.

"A little hot, I guess." Alex replied and shook her head when she noticed the get up Henry was wearing. He had on all that padding and uniform from the Kingdom but she couldn't help but smile, "Aren't you hot?"

"Who me?" Henry asked, briefly looking down at his uniform with a slight pink rising to his cheeks. "Have to wear it, I'm a part of the Kingdom."

Alex rolled her eyes and chuckled before leaning over and ruffled his blond hair on the top of his head, "Yeah, yeah, Kingdom boy. Go on now, you got more water duty."

Henry glared over at her then smiled as he turned away and walked down to the next Saviour who needed some water or to be relieved from their duty for a couple of minutes. Alex sighed lowly to herself and caught sight of Rick at the other end of the bridge with a few others. Probably the group that was to go out and look around. She noticed the hispanic woman, Rosita, was amongst them and a couple of the women from Oceanside that she hadn't met yet. Arat was amongst them as well, nodding and listening to Rick as she stood between Rosita and Maggie Rhee, leader for the Hilltop, who hung that fool Gregory a couple of days a go.

Alex wasn't surprised that Rick asked Arat to go with them on a search, she was an incredible shot. A good friend of hers too ever since she had gotten to the Sanctuary. Arat had been the first woman she had met that night Alex stumbled into Simon and the group while running away from her camp. The two of them shared a tent together back at the campsite and often stayed up talking about how life was before the apocalypse, all the things she has done and even confessed how she killed one of the brothers of the oceanside girls under strict orders from Simon. Alex could see it in her eyes that Arat never wanted to kill in the first place, but she had to in order to survive.

Alex swallowed slightly as her mouth became quite dry once again, her thoughts disappearing from her mind as Daryl walked across the bridge the Saviours were working on and past her briefly towards Rick's group at the other end. Even her mouth fell open slightly and she couldn't blink, afraid she'd might miss one of his movements.

She thought about their conversation today, or lack of. He didn't speak that much and wasn't fond of the Saviours, which was understandable seeing as what happened to him and some of his people throughout the war that had went on. But it was the way he looked at her or looked away, the thoughts that went on in his mind without him speaking is what captivated her a bit.

"Miss...you okay?" Henry's voice broke her from her own thoughts that were wondering around through her head and she slowly turned to catch the young boys eyes once again. It was her turned to be embarrassed slightly as she cleared her throat and pressed her hand to her forehead.

"Uhm..yeah, sorry. I'm just feeling a bit dizzy from this heat." Alex added with a nervous chuckle, "You have any more water left to spare? Can I get some off ya?"

Henry cocked his brow slightly and gave the jug a shake, the water swishing around inside. He grabbed for a cup and poured some water into the styrofoam and handed it over to Alex who took it from him, "Thanks, Henry. I'm feeling quite thirstier than usual today."

* * *

The long hot day working on the bridge turned into night as the sun sunk beyond the trees welcoming the dark skies and moon to take its place. Alex and the other Saviours has returned to camp a while ago to clean up for some dinner around one of the campfires in the campsite. Once she cleaned up, she settled for one of her black hoodies for warmth on this chilly night even though the fires were in full blossom to keep everyone warm. She noticed, however, a couple of people that were still missing from the group, most likely still out in the woods but irregular that they'd still be gone so late.

Alex scanned some of the groups of people huddled around the campfires spread out around the site. Some only with Saviours around it, another fire with only people from the Kingdom and Alexandria. They were so divided. Amongst the people that missing were three Saviours, including Arat and some of those girls from Oceanside. She wondered what they had found to keep them out so late but her curiousitynwas getting the best of her in that moment.

Alex found herself backing away from one of the campfires and returning to her tent to retrieve one of her knives that she had hidden away underneath her clothes so that Ricks people wouldn't take it away from her. She tucked it in her back pocket and zipped up her hoodie before stepping out of the tent and quickly made for the wooded area away from the camp.

"Something must've happened," Alex muttered to herself as she walked through the dark woods by herself. She kept a good eye out ahead of her and listened closely to the sounds that was around her as the campsite disappeared from view.

It was unlike them not to return after nightfall unless they had run into some walkers or more trouble while out on runs. But it would be even worse for her if she stumbled across them out in the woods by herself and away from camp.

Alex kept going through the woods until she stumbled onto a road leading both ways. For a moment, she stopped at the edge of the road stuck between the edge of the forest and where the road met and looked both ways wondering which way would be best to take until a noise that came from the left direction chose the path for her.

A snarl emerged from the woods as a walker dragged himself out onto the road. Alex instantly went for her knife in her back pocket and swished the blade out quickly. Her body moved swiftly and quickly across the road towards the walker before he could notice and stuck the knife into the back of the walkers skull.

Alex pulled her hand back and watched as the walker dropped to her feet and inhaled deeply, exhaling the cool breath out in front of her. "I thought they were out scouting the perimeter for these things." She said, which was questionable even to her. That was what Ricks groups were for, to scout and look after the walkers that got too close to camp and this one, was not too far away.

Alex's thoughts disappeared when she heard a scream off in the distance towards the other part of the woods and she took off running quickly. She pushed through the branches and shrubs until she got to a clearing of land where a one story house stood. There were people standing outside of it but she couldn't really get a good look at who had it been. Alex spotted a hiding place not too far; an old broken down Ford in the middle of the field not too far from the house. She quickly and quietly ran over to it and hid behind the truck. She knelt down on her knees and hunched over slightly, quietly gasping for breath and wiped the sweat from her brow.

There was a person crying. Two people, actually. One she couldn't really put her finger on but the other—-it was Arat. Alex pushes herself up and poked her head over the top of the hood slightly so they couldn't see her. She saw three people huddled over a crying Arat who was on her knees in front of them with a knife to the back of her head.

Alex's stomach turned and she instantly could taste the bile moving upwards to the back of her throat.

"She killed my brother!" The woman screamed with a shaky voice and tears spilling down her cheeks. In the moonlight, Alex could briefly see the texture and facial features of the woman standing behind Arat, the woman from Oceanside.

"What'd you say?" Came another voice, who Alex recognized as Maggie's. Her attention shot to her and another figure standing with her not too far from the three and Arat, and she noticed that it was Daryl.

Arat didn't answer right away. She let out a shaky cry and squeezed her eyes shut, "I had to do it. Simon told me too."

"What did you say to him?" Maggie repeated herself again, this time her voice more stern. Alex watched on. She didn't know what to do at that moment and all the pieces began to slowly be put together. All the men and women who worked for Simon and went on the runs with him were the ones being slaughtered throughout the camp and Arat was one of them. The women from Oceanside were the ones killing them to get back at what the group had done to their husbands, brothers, fathers that lived at Oceanside.

"No exceptions," Arat cried out into the night. Everything became still in that moment as Alex stood and waited for Maggie or Daryl to stop them or intervene but they didn't. They both turned their backs on the group of women and walked away and before Alex could make a move, the knife was driven through the back of Arats head and she fell face forward to the ground.


End file.
